ATLANTA — Rams defensive end standout Kevin Carter is a Superman freak and he was asked about that yesterday and revealed a super tale. Carter was blind at birth.

“When I was born I had a birth defect, I had bad eyes,” he said. “My mom is anemic and my eyes didn’t develop fully. So my parents decorated my room in Superman stuff. Everything was Superman. They were hoping that everything would turn out OK and by God’s grace, I got my sight at three, four months old. So Superman is an alter-ego.”

The Dan Marino rumors are running strong. Marino figures to part ways with the Dolphins and could wind up in his hometown of Pittsburgh, working for Bill Cowher because Kordell Stewart has been so shaky or land in sunny San Diego and try to teach Ryan Leaf what it means to be an NFL quarterback.

Leaf has been the league’s biggest punk. Don’t forget that when Marino came into the league, he also had a little growing up to do.

Rams receiver Ricky Proehl, who caught the NFC title game-winner, is a big fan of Al Groh. “He recruited me out of high school [for Wake Forest],” Proehl said. “I just hope if he does not have immediate success, they don’t fire him and look for someone else because I think he can be a hell of a head coach.”

Giants coach Jim Fassel is sticking with the NFC. “I believe St. Louis is going to win, and for that Super Bowl victory, the Rams should thank the scare they received in the NFC Championship Game,” Fassel said in his MS/NBCSports.com mailbag. “The worst thing that could have happened to St. Louis would have been for them to blow away the Bucs and the NFL’s quickest and most explosive defense. But by barely surviving with an 11-6 victory, I think the Rams’ high-powered offense, which rolled up a league-leading 526 points during the regular season, has come back to a humbling turf.”

Danny Kanell now knows that joining the media has its drawbacks.

Kanell, the Falcons backup quarterback and former Giants starter, is in town and working for something called the Hotel Channel, doing interviews during Super Bowl week. He approached Kurt Warner and asked, “What advice would you give a young quarterback like myself on how to get where you are?” Before Warner could answer, a member of the media shouted, “You need talent, Danny.”

Warner then answered Kanell’s question. “Live your dream,” he said. “I never gave up on what I wanted to accomplish. I didn’t care to what length I had to do it and I was going to go to any extreme to do it. I didn’t play so I would be up here in front of a bunch of media and I would make a lot of money. I played because I love the game.”

Kanell thanked Warner and added, “I just hope I have half the success you’ve had this year.”

A sure sign that Media Day arrived yesterday, in all its ridiculous overkill: Mike Frederick, a reserve defensive lineman for the Titans, was talking about this past summer, a difficult time when he was cut by the Jets two days after learning his wife was pregnant with the couple’s first child. Suddenly, interrupting, Beth Littleford of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart pounced onto the scene.